This Didn’t Take Long

The still-unannounced re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. John Sweeney has honed itsÂ rapid response skills. Within a few hours of the Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling convictions, the Sweeney campÂ was highlightingÂ the connection of Kirsten Gillibrand’s law firm – Boies Schiller & Flexner – toÂ Enron.

“As Lay and Skilling get ready to head off to jail and join their corrupt Enron colleagues behind bars, itâ€™s important for the voters of the 20th Congressional District know that Kirsten Gillibrandâ€™s law firm defended Enron crook Andrew Fastow, the companyâ€™s former chief financial officer who was a mastermind of the fraud,” said Sweeney campaign spokeswoman Maureen O’Brien Donovan.

Gillibrand did not defend Fastow herself. Actually, it was managing partner David Boies. But Sweeney’s campaign slammed her for taking money from attorneys in the firm who worked on the case.

Gillibrand campaign manager Bill Hyers condemned the Sweeney camp for putting out only “negative press releases against Kirsten instead of talking about the congressman’s record.”

Hyers also took a shot at Sweeney for “defending the status quo” by taking money from big corporations, including one involved in its own scandal – Arthur AndersonÂ – and voting against increasing penalties for CEOs who “cheat their companies.”